


Conduit

by AuroraRebellion



Category: Fire Emblem: Shin Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Ken | Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Genre: And caeda fire emblem is a scarily good pegasus knight dont @ me, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, However! While its canon typical its not graphic, Magic, Magic headcanons abound here uwu, Merric fire emblem is a very strong boy magically, pegasus rides
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-08 00:03:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19095679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraRebellion/pseuds/AuroraRebellion
Summary: The green haze still curling about his vision clears a little as he blinks, and he thinks semi-coherently, 'I did that. I didn’t know that was possible.'-Merric and Caeda go on a mission to make a dent in the enemy forces, and they find a wind mage on a pegasus does... far more than leave a dent.





	1. Flight

“So, you’ll have to put your feet _here,_ ” Caeda is explaining, and Merric nods.

“And if I feel I’m about to fall?”

“Just put an arm around me. We might also have rope tied around you, but… I hope we don’t have to use it. -No, we _won’t_ have to use it. No doubts. Because I’m going to teach you how this works, and you’re going to blow them all away with your skill!”

Merric snickers, and Caeda waggles her eyebrows at him. Whether the pun was intentional or not, she knows what it sounded like. Blow them all away… Yes, that is what a wind mage is expected to do, isn’t it?

“We’ll see about that. I don’t exactly have much practice riding ordinary horses, let alone flying ones...”

“But I have enough experience to cover the both of us,” Caeda assures him. “We’ll just trot a few laps around the camp to begin with, before we start flying. Takeoff is something you’ll need to be ready for. Now, where do your feet go?”

“Oh, erm-” Merric fumbles for a moment, then fits his feet into the stirrups on the saddle. They’re not the stirrups for Caeda’s feet, because her saddle is strange and unlike any others he’s seen, but it’s made perfectly for accommodating another rider when need be. He’s fairly certain- despite how he got distracted for a moment while Caeda was speaking- that he heard these extra stirrups can even be removed so they're out of the way.

Either way, he puts his feet where Caeda instructed, and she beams.

“Perfect! Now-” She grabs part of the saddle and fits a foot in one of her stirrups. The motion of swinging herself up into place is as natural as a breeze moving leaves, and Merric finds his last reservations about a wind mage on a pegasus are gone. If anyone’s good enough to make this work, it’s Caeda. He keeps forgetting that she’s been riding pegasi longer than he’s been studying magic.

“-For our practice laps! Ready?”  
He hugs the Thunder tome he’s picked out close (lightning magic has never been his strong suit, which makes it the perfect choice for a less powerful spell), and nods. Caeda grins and flicks the reins, jiggling a stirrup in a manner that must mean something-

And her pegasus starts off into motion. It starts as a trot, Merric thinks, but he isn’t entirely confident with the terms for horse movement. It starts fairly slow, increases to faster with a command from Caeda… It goes slow, faster, fast, and he leans forward to slip an arm around Caeda’s waist. He doesn’t exactly ride much faster than a trot, or a… canter. It’s called a canter?

Either way, he doesn’t go much faster than that. Doesn’t usually, and Caeda’s pegasus- Gale. The pegasus’s name is Gale, Gale is going faster than a canter and Merric isn't sure he’s fond of being tossed around at this speed.

“Are-” he pauses to avoid biting his tongue- “Are we going to- go this quickly?”

“This is a gallop!” Caeda calls back, as if she’s not being shaken. “Though, I'm changing my mind on some of this.  I think we can cut out the middle of this and skip straight to the good part, can’t we?”

“Define the- the good- _eep!_ ” He’s not exactly ashamed to admit that he squeaks, but it’s still a rather undignified noise that comes from his mouth as Caeda flicks the reins, Gale spreads her wings, and with a single blow towards the ground they’re jerking up into the air. Merric leans in close against Caeda, his chest to her back.

“Oh,” is all he says for a moment. Once they’re truly in the air, movement is far more fluid… But is he scared of heights? Has he somehow not noticed this before, or is it a new fact? His stomach is doing somersaults all the same.

“We’ll be flying a lot higher than this when we’re actually in battle,” Caeda tells him, “This is just to get you used to it.”

“That’s quite alright,” Merric replies. He’s a bit distracted watching the ground rush by. Is that what’s causing the chill that tingles its way up his spine? He can’t say for certain. If he’s scared of heights, he’s… actually doing a rather bad job of being scared. Hm. At least he’s not panicking, because this sort of fear of heights is far more manageable than the sorts of fears that have him shaky and leave his mouth dry.

Either way- he leans back, and extends his arm from his side. He’s not quite confident, not yet, but this seems like something he can do. ...The. The tricky part is letting go completely, and staying in the saddle entirely of his own merit. That bit’s a little more complex, because he’d rather not fall.

“Are you alright, Merric?” Caeda asks. Merric starts.  
“I, er- yes, I’m alright, just… this is new and unfamiliar territory, yes? It’s taking me a moment to get my bearings. Now let’s see…”

He forces his other hand to uncurl from where he’s been clutching Caeda’s shirt, and pulls it back near his chest.

“Remember, you do most of your holding on with your thighs,” Caeda reminds him.

“Yes, yes, right.” He opens the Thunder tome, and puts a hand over one of the runes on the page. It’s even more difficult to catch the magic right now, perhaps because he’s scared of heights(?), so he foregoes trying to read the runes and just feels for what he needs to use. A buzz, a spark, that little rustle beneath the pages… And there it is. He tugs it from the pages, pulls it to wrap around his fingers and crackle in the air.

“That stone, there,” Caeda orders, pointing to a large rock off from the borders of the camp. Merric hums loud to tell her he’s heard, and holds out his hand. The first few syllables roll off his tongue, and the charge focuses.

First the initial guiding bolt, then the flash of the true spell, and the explosion of light from above. Caeda whistles sharply.

“There we go! See, we’ve got this!”

“That was once,” Merric tells her. “I’m not completely sure I can do that every single time…” And if he’s honest, something felt off about that. It felt… wrong. He’s not sure why, really, but he knows it wasn’t quite _right_. Maybe he said something wrong, maybe he’s a little distracted, or maybe he really just shouldn’t be casting magic while in the air.

He knows those with earth magic can’t be off the ground, and yes they also have _earth_ magic, which means of course they don’t do well when seperated, but perhaps it holds true for all mages that they should be on the ground. Perhaps only truly skilled mages can cast spells in the air without anything protesting, and he just hasn’t practiced enough.

“-Merric? Merric, you’re spacing out.” Caeda nudges him with her elbow, and he starts.

“What? I- oh, oh, of course, my apologies… What were you saying?”

“I was suggesting we wheel around and take another shot at the rock. Just to be sure you have it down.”

“Oh. Yes, that’s a good idea. Let’s do that.” He’ll have Excalibur, at least, and he can clearly use magic from a tome while in the air… It ought to be fine. Caeda nods, and tugs on the reins, leading her pegasus into a sweeping turn.

It doesn’t feel any less strange the second time, or the third, or even the fourth, but he hits his target at least. If only turning didn’t make him feel so terribly.. Buzzy. It’s the only way to put it. It isn’t outright shaky or jittery, but it’s not still and calm either. Perhaps it’s the- he can’t call it a fear, can he? Can he call it that, when he doesn’t feel scared? He isn’t sure.

He’d like it if things would just be neat and easy to figure out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This just in folks, I love exploring magic via Merric, and chapter titles are hard.


	2. Freefall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caeda keeps her hair back while flying for two reasons- one, because losing vision in battle is bad, and two, because if she doesn't tie it back the magic of Excalibur will render it hopelessly tangled by the wind.

Excalibur safely in the pouch on his hip, Merric heaves himself up into the saddle, fits his feet into the stirrups, and attaches the safety rope to his belt. Today’s the day, now’s the time, and he’s perhaps a little nervous. He’s been in battle, he’s even been right there beside Marth, but he’s never been over the battle on a pegasus before. He’s only ridden a pegasus a total of once.

And in hindsight? This was terribly planned. Yes, of course, send the wind mage and the pegasus knight off. They’ll figure it out! (Though to be fair, that’s a rather valid strategy when it comes to Caeda, sending her off and telling her to figure it out. He’d hate to be at the sharp end of her Wing Spear.)

Speaking of Caeda, she’s strolling up beside the pegasus, tugging her hair ribbon tight so it won’t come undone. She looks up and smiles.

“If you lost any sleep last night, you don’t look it,” she tells him. He chuckles.

“I slept fine, actually. I wasn’t kept up much later than I tend to go to sleep anyway.”

“That is to say, you went to bed late? I know what you’re like, Merric. Marth’s told me.” Merric sputters, and in lieu of words, aims a half-hearted kick in her direction. It hits, but she doesn’t act like it hurt at all. It probably didn’t; Merric isn't exactly known for his leg strength.

“Well, either way, we’re going to head out soon.” She pulls herself up into the saddle, and she truly does just _fit_ there. Merric wonders whether he fits into his mage’s robes like she fits in the sky. He hopes he does.

“Do you have Excalibur?” Caeda asks.

“Yes, it’s right here. I’m not the sort who forgets his tome, Caeda. That would be like you forgetting your spear.”

“That’s true. My bad then, good to know you’re ready. Off we go!” She flicks the reins and does one of those signals that tells the pegasus to do something. Seems this something was take off, because Gale flaps, and they’re climbing upwards in the sky.

“They didn’t give the call,” Merric points out. Caeda shrugs.

“We’ll get it soon, and it’s better for Gale to be ready to do some serious flying. We’ll just circle for now.” ...Now that he stops to consider, Caeda does circle overhead quite a lot, doesn’t she. Almost every battle, she’s been flying beforehand. Is it her, or her pegasus that needs it most?

It’s hardly more than five minutes, with them wheeling calmly- or as calm as you can be when a fight is about to happen-  when a whistle is blown from below. Caeda leans to see, and even from his spot Merric sees the flag wave. It was a simple thing Caeda and the others came up with a while ago, or so Merric had been told once. Shouting just isn’t practical when you’re communicating with someone so high above you.

“That’s our cue,” Caeda announces. She waves back, then sits up in the saddle. Off they go, as Caeda said.

 

The problem they’re supposed to resolve is a line of armored knights- a rather well-made defensive line, that will be dangerous to try to cut through with only the infantry and cavalry. There just aren’t enough Armorslayers, and only Marth knows his way around a rapier well enough to fight with it.

But one mage? One mage, with the space and time to cast as they wish... that mage could do quite a lot of damage. Armor stops swords and lances and axes and bows, but _spells-_ it has to be very, very special armor to stop magic.

Of course, a mage on his or her or their own in front of a bunch of soldiers would end with the mage being a weapon pincushion. Not ideal. Thus the answer to that was a mage up in the air, where most weapons can’t reach. A mage on a flying beast. Merric was chosen as that mage.

As for the other half of the team… While Minerva is an excellent flier, there was debate over how well Titania would take the wind. Palla was also a choice, but the same issues with her beast arose, and she prefers to be near the Macedonian princesses besides.

Catria isn’t experienced enough, and even if Est were more experienced- well, it’s no secret how Abel got that nasty bruise on his jaw. Merric doesn’t trust Rosemallow, despite his innocent name.

And all that to be said, Caeda was left. Caeda’s capable and Gale, Gale lives up to her name. There’s no doubt Gale is able to handle the wind. So they chose Merric, and Caeda, and now Merric and Caeda are quickly coming upon the enemy force.

Merric reaches for Excalibur, pulling it from its pouch, and if these are nerves they’ve chosen an _awful_ time to make an appearance. Whatever it is that makes his stomach twist, it’s now decided it’s going to shake him, to curl deep in his chest and tug at each breath he takes. It’s for some reason decided the appropriate response to pulling Excalibur out is to prick at his fingertips and hum under his skin.

It’s almost like magic.

...It’s just like magic- it’s _magic_ that hums in his veins, that’s buried itself deep in his chest. It all makes so much sense now. And what was he thinking earlier, about mages? Earth mages need to be on the ground, of course, because it’s contact with the _earth._ A wind mage? Wind mages do terribly underground! Of course, of course his magic acts strangely when he’s up in the air, he’s a _wind_ mage. No wonder casting Thunder felt wrong. Goodness, for being a studied mage, he’s… sometimes rather dense.

“Merric!” Caeda calls, and all at once he realizes that not only has he been spacing out, he may or may not have neglected to breathe during that time.

“Sorry- sorry, I’m here. What is it?”

“We’re almost there. Are you ready?”

“Ready as I can be, I think.”

Caeda nods, and leans forward some. Gale dips in the air, and Merric takes that as his cue to open his tome.

The wind roars in his ears and swirls around him in time to his heartbeat and for a moment he’s so caught in the pull of it that it nearly rips Excalibur from his hands. For a moment, the rush of air is all he can hear-

But the metal below shines and it forces him to narrow in his vision on it. The words to Excalibur’s spell are as natural on his lips as his own name at this point, and he holds out a hand to aim. The magic presses at his palm as he focuses and begins his countdown.  
_Three, two…_

He’s dropped down into a dive, an arrow goes whistling past his ear, and he most certainly doesn’t reach one in his countdown. The spell rips its way through him almost without his say, and tears into the ground a few feet from the foremost soldiers. Wildly off course.

But for being off course, it still knocks one of them off their feet, and Merric’s busy catching ahold of Caeda’s arm in order to steady himself. He doesn’t need his tome, he really doesn’t, not where he is now- not when he’s nearly shaking from how his own magic has turned and twisted inside him. It’s unfamiliar, though not entirely unpleasant; it doesn’t hurt, and it isn’t frightening. Just strange.

“Sorry,” Caeda hisses, just barely audible above the wind. “Archer.”

“No, no, you’re- you’re alright,” Merric replies distantly. “That actually…” It’s wind magic, he’s in the air. Of course. “...That might have given me an idea.”

Caeda pulls on the reins, guiding Gale up and beyond the archers. “An idea?”

“A, er… dangerous one.” He still hasn’t let go of Caeda’s sleeve. He feels like he might just float out of the saddle if he does. “That involves… diving towards the enemy.”

Caeda looks over her shoulder, almost skeptical. “Diving? From here?”

“Oh, no, no, from higher up! Though I’ll say, it- might be dangerous.”

“Clearly, the demon flier of the League is scared of danger,” Caeda deadpans. Merric laughs, as best he can when he’s a little out of breath still.

“Clearly.”

“Clearly indeed. Now,” -she snaps the reins and Gale climbs higher- “just how much diving do you want to do?”

“We… let’s go as high as you feel comfortable.”

“As I feel comfortable? Merric, I’m a pegasus knight. You’re a mage. There’s a difference in what altitude we can take. You could pass out.”

“I’m a _wind_ mage. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m-” he cuts off as a gust of wind tosses Gale in the air, and he clings tighter to Caeda. That wasn’t a natural event, that was him, and he desperately stuffs his magic _down._ “Sorry, sorry. My bad. Anyway. I’ll be fine, I promise!”

“Alright, hold tight.”

It’s one, two, three… Merric counts the wingbeats as Gale flies higher and higher. It’s ten, roughly, but he loses track once or twice before Caeda pulls Gale to level out the climb.

“You alright, Merric?”

“Yes. I- I’m fine. Give me a moment…” Less than a minute, and yet his magic is writhing where he’s sealed it down. It’s- he rarely names emotions to his own magic, but here he thinks calling it impatient is accurate. It’s _restless_ and it itches at his knuckles.

He wants to tell it to quiet down, to wait its turn, and to prove his point he puts Excalibur back in its pouch at his side. ...It doesn’t really do much. He feels tired and wide-awake both at once and it’s distinctly uncomfortable.

“Alright,” he sighs, “I’m ready.”  
Caeda nods, and points. Down below, the enemy group flashes its way across the plain.

“Hold tight,” is all she says, and Merric barely has the time to throw an arm around her waist before she leans forward, and Gale pulls her wings in and _plummets._

The wind howls and tears about him, filling his ears and pulling, tugging, toying with the idea of ripping him from the saddle. He holds to Caeda all the tighter as he raises his arm, eyes fixed on the host below. They look small, from this height- from the height they _were_ at, rather, but it’s not going to take long at all before they’re very large, and very close. He already sees an archer look up.

The magic he had stuffed down for the flight up is perfectly content to come back out once more. It thrums its way through him with his too-fast pulse, it buzzes through his veins as it curls up his arms and it burns at his fingertips. His hand is shaking now, and he can hardly make himself take air into his lungs to whisper the words of his spell.

His magic has evaded him before. He’s lost control before, too.

But it’s never been quite like _this_. It’s always been too small, or too restless, it’s never been so big that it’s no longer his, it’s never been all the sky all at once bearing down and ripping through him like a conduit in such a way that his vision blurs green and he’s never felt the air around himself go so completely utterly still in all his life while he forces all of the air out of his lungs to shout-

“ _Excalibur!_ ”

Caeda pulls up on the reins and Gale jerks out of her dive, and for a dizzying moment Merric is still falling, even when theoretically, he shouldn’t be.

Then everything catches up, and the force of the- impact? Is it an impact? Whatever it’s called when you stop falling- change renders him coughing and struggling to catch his breath. He leans against Caeda, one arm still around her, and just breathes for a moment.

“We did it, Merric!” She tells him. He pushes himself back with his free hand, and looks down.

There’s not very much armor upright and shining anymore. There’s quite a lot of metal sprawled out across the grass, and clods of dirt have been torn up and strewn about the area. He did that.

The green haze still curling about his vision clears a little as he blinks, and he thinks semi-coherently, _I did that. I didn’t know that was possible._

And a far more coherent thought he doesn’t think until later is, _I’m lucky that didn’t rip me apart._

“Merric,” Caeda calls. Merric blinks hard a second time, and registers the arm she has stretched backwards. It’s keeping him from tipping off the saddle. Hm. “Merric, are you okay?”

“I think so,” he replies airily. “I think I’m fine. Everything seems rather dull after that…”

“Stay awake, okay?” He thinks he hears concern in her voice. Makes sense that she’s concerned, actually, he’s never done anything like any of this before.

“Don’t worry, I know better than to fall out of the saddle.” To prove his point, he adjusts himself, and wraps his other arm around Caeda’s waist. There, no danger of falling.

“That’s… good, I guess. We’re heading back.”

“Alright. Good job, Caeda.”  
“You too.”

 

He’s significantly more focused when they land- mostly because there was quite a lot of shouting to greet them upon their return. Merric most certainly picks out Cain’s voice among the group. And Linde? Yes, he sees Linde. He sees her long brown hair bobbing among the group, as Caeda guides Gale down to land. There’s that flip-flop in his stomach again, as there always will be he assumes, but it’s far more subdued now. Maybe because he has other things to compare it to.

“Mission accomplished!” Caeda announces. Another cheer comes from the welcoming group. Merric slips off the saddle-

And he feels terribly, horribly _heavy._ His legs don’t just threaten to give out, they really truly do, yet even while he’s so heavy he can’t actually feel whether anything’s touching the ground.

Someone calls his name. Caeda, perhaps? He’s fairly certain someone has caught him… Yes, it’s her. Those are her arms around him. He puts a hand on one of them, holding on weakly.

“Sorry,” he murmurs, “I… Can’t really help it.”  
“I know,” Caeda says. Then, she says louder: “Someone call Lena or Maria!”

“Is he alright?” A different voice, far more familiar and far, far more panicked. Merric forces himself to act alert, and tries to stand, even if he’s still leaning heavy on Caeda. It’s Marth, who runs up and puts his hands on Merric’s shoulders, anxiously checking him over.

“Are you alright, Merric? What’s- what’s wrong?”

“Tired, is all, I assure you. Give me a few minutes, and I… I should be right as rain!” He's swaying heavily, even with Caeda’s arm around him and Marth’s hands on his shoulders. It’s okay, he’ll be caught if he falls.

“Here I am!” More people. It’s Maria, this time, with Catria looking quite harried close behind her. “Sorry, I had to go get my staff. I’m here!”

“Good day, princess Maria,” Merric greets. Maria pauses, eyes him, then giggles.

“Hello, Merric. You had me scared for a moment!” There’s a moment where the others watch her, then she smiles at Marth and Caeda. “It seems like what he needs is sleep. I’ll check on him once he’s in bed, but…” Once more, she looks back at Merric. “You just feel tired.”

“Oh. ...Yes, I think I am.” Merric looks down at the ground, then up at Maria. “Did you know I’ve never done that before? I think I should write about it.”

“After you’re rested up,” Marth sighs. “Come on, I’ll help you to bed.”

Merric is passed from Caeda’s arms to Marth’s, and… while he doesn’t mind either way, he will say he’s definitely okay with this. Marth is warm and calming, with that odd sort of not-really-magic that seems to sleep all cozied up inside him. Merric leans his head against Marth’s shoulder, and lets his eyes drift shut.

“Sounds nice,” he murmurs...

(And Caeda helps Marth with a very much unconscious Merric. Marth is strong, yes, but even someone like Merric isn’t easy to carry alone.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand here's chapter two! This is one of my first multichapter fics that I've written in a while... usually I'm long fic or one-shot.  
> Anyways, thank you for reading!!! Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
